As Aru sat out the Giro del Trentino and the Tour of Romandie ahead of the Giro to recover from a stomach illness, the validity of which was questioned by Henderson.

A statement released by Aru’s agent Alex Carera at the time read: “With regard to the quotes of Greg Henderson posted on his Twitter profile on April 25th 2015, Fabio Aru empowered his attorney Avv. Napoleone to take legal action against the New Zealander pro cyclist in order to defend his image and his respectability.”

In a further statement released on Monday (May 18) by Carera and Aru’s lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone it was announced that the defamation legal action was “undertaken to protect the good name and integrity of the cyclist Fabio Aru.”

With Henderson and Aru set to ride another 12 stages of the Giro d’Italia together, it will be interesting to see if the tension spills out onto the road.